Dispensing valve mechanism



March 17, 1959 D. J. HANSEN 2,877,798

DISPENSING VALVE MECHANISM Filed June 21, 1954 DUNALD J. HANSEN,

INVEN TOR. V y

A TTORNEK United This invention relates to valve mechanisms and more particularly to one for dispensing liquid petroleum gases in which means are provided for bleeding therefrom gases trapped within the valve mechanism at the termination of the dispensing operation.

Liquid petroleum gases are stored under relatively high pressure and are dispensed in the liquid phase from a storage supply into the users tank. At the termination of the dispensing operation the gas carried within the valve housing of the dispensing mechanism, as the latter is withdrawn from the users tank, exhaust into the atmosphere. In present day dispensing valve mechanism for liquid petroleum gas, the exhausting gas, as it expands, rapidly reduces the temperature of the mechanism. Also, the gas may, in expanding, come into direct contact with the hand of the user. In either or both cases the hand of the user is burned by the rapid temperature drop produced by the expanding gas as it exhausts from the dispensing mechanism into the atmosphere.

In the valve mechanism of the present invention this injury to the hand or hands of the operator is obviated, for the gas lling the dispensing mechanism is allowed to discharge slowly from the latter as the dispensing operation is completed. The discharge of the gas trapped in the mechanism is effected by means forming a part of the operating mechanism controlling flow of the gas from the storage supply tank and is initiated by termination of the actuation of this mechanism.

The valve mechanism of the preesnt invention includes a main valve element normally held against a coacting vseat by a spring member to prevent ilow of the liquid gas from the storage tank. The value element comprises a coaxially mounted stem element slidably mounted within the housing of the mechanism with the free end thereof projecting outwardly of the housing. The stem is yformed with a longitudinally extending bore which com municates with a port leading from the interior of the housing adjacent the main valve element. The projecting end of the stem slidably carries a cap internally mounting a pad of resilient material engageable with the end face of the stem to close the passage formed by the bore thereof.

The valve element is moved from its seat against the action of the spring member by means of a pivoted lever arm having an integral bearing or thrust pad engageable with the end face of the cap slidably carried by the projecting end of the stem. As the lever is pivotally moved to bring the thrust pad thereof into engagement with the cap, a longitudinally directed force is carried into the stem to move the valve element away from its coacting seat. The movement of the valve element from the seat permits ow of the liquid petroleum gas through the dispensing mechanism and into the users tank.

At the termination of the dispensing operation, release of the lever arm permits the spring member to again move the valve element against its seat and to simultaneously return the stem to its normal position. Although the atent O E the dispensing operation.

2,877,798 Patented Mar. 17, 1959 valve element is now in its closing position on the coacting seat, a volume of gas under pressure is nevertheless trapped within the housing between the valve element and the valve forming a part of the ller mechanism of the users tank. It is this gas which, in present dispensing valve mechanisms, exhausts into the atmosphere around the users hand as he disconnects the dispensing valve from the ller member of the tank.

In the valve mechanism of the present invention, this trapped gas, still under relatively high pressure, acts to raise the cap slidably carried by the operating stem to a position in which a lateral opening formed in the cap is above the end face of the stem. When the cap is pressurally raised to this position, the trapped gas is free to slowly bleed through the bore of the stem and escape into the atmosphere through the small laterally extending opening of the cap. It will thus be seen that it is the trapped gas itself which operates the bleed mechanismy of The escape of the gas is at such a rate as to permit dissipation of the trapped gas without danger of injury to the hand or hands of the operator. I

In the operation of the valve mechanism herein 'disclosed and claimed, the lever arm is rocked to urge the thrust pad against the cap so that the resilient pad of the latter is tightly held against the end of the stem to seal the 'bore of the latter. There is thus no danger of leakage through the bleed path during the dispensing operation. Furthermore, as the thrust is taken directly by the cap into the stem, there are no movable valve elements subject to hard usage in the bleed path of the present mechanism. This insures a trouble-free long service life for the valve mechanism.

Other features and advantages of the present invention will be hereinafter apparent from the following description, particularly when taken in connection with the accompanying drawing, in which Figure 1 is a vertical sectional view showing the dispensing valve mechanism of the present invention mounted to the filler member of the tank;

Figure 2 is a top plan View;

Figure 3 is a fragmentary view partly in section showing the Ibail member in one position of adjustment; and

Figure-4 is a view similar to Figure 3 showing-the bleed means of the valve mechanism.

The valve mechanism of the present invention, referring now to the accompanying drawing and more particularly to Figure l thereof, comprises a body memberf 10, preferably cast of a suitable metal such as brass or bronze. The body member 10 is formed with an entrance port 11 formed with internal threads 12 for receiving a male fitting 13 carried within the one end of a lexible conduit or hose 14 leading to a supply tank, not shown, and containing a supply of liquid petroleum gas such as butane. Formed internally of the body member 10 is a lower chamber 1S, communicating with the entrance port 11, and an upper chamber 16. The upper chamber 16 communicates with an exit port 17 also formed with internal threads for interchangeably mounting a dispensing tting 18, here shown as one having a rotatably mounted sleeve to be threadedly connected to a fitting 21 forming a part of a ller member 22 of a storage tank 23 into which lbutane is to be dispensed. The ller member 22 includes a valve 24 which is normally held against a coacting'seat 25 by a spring 26 but which is moved away from theiseat by the pressure of the gas dispersed into the iller member 22. e

Centrally formed of the body member 10 isa circular valve seat 27 which faces into the lower chamber 15. This seat 27 is engaged by a movable valve element 28 comprising a shallow cup-shaped member 29 in which is mounted an annular pad 31 of some suitable resilient 'i 3 material. The lower transverse wall 32 of the cup-shaped member 29 is centrally formed with an opening aligned with `the opening v'of `th'e padf31 'for passing the reduced ythreaded end-33: oli an elongate `stern 34. Y This stem is `formed with an enlarged head 35, the flat face of which engages the exposedv'surfacel of the annular vpad31 to hold the same `withinthe cup-shaped member29 lwhen a nut 36 is mounted tothe reduced threaded end 33 and tightened against the lower face of the transverse Wall 32.

The movable valve'felement 28 is normally held inv engagement with the seat 27 by afcoiled spring 37 nested within a cylindrical recess 38of a-'cap 39 which is threaded into a tapped opening 4l of the body member 10. "Theupper end ofthe spring 37 sleeves the downwardly projecting, threaded end- 33 of the stem 34. and

.applies an upward thrusttothe valve element-A28.V To ,t properly orient the spring 37 relative to the rvalve element y28, the lower`wall of the recess 38 may be formedvwith a'locatng lug.y 42 whiclr'acts to anchor and properly 1ocate the lower end of the spring'37.

The stern 34 projects upwardly, as viewed in Figure l, and is slidably supported within a guide bushing 43, the lower end of which is threadedly mounted in a tapped bore formed in the upper portion of the body member 10. The guide bushing 43 is formed with an enlarged head 44, here shown as hexagonal, to facilitate mounting of the guide bushing as well as to form a clamping element for mounting a substantially L-shaped bracket 45 to the body lit. In the now preferred form of the present invention the one arm of the bracket 45 is ormedrwith an guide bushing 43 is sealed by an O-ring 47 mounted in a circumferentially extended groove 48 formed in the upper portion of the stem 34.

The upper end of the stem 34 is reduced, as-indicated at 49,V to form an upwardly facing shoulder 51. The reduced end portion of the stem 34 slidably mounts a cap element 52 having a pad 53 of some suitable resilient material extending acrossthe transverse wall thereof, The pad S3 normally holds the lower edge of the 'cap 52 l. spaced from the upwardly facing shoulder 51 but yet permits engagement with the shoulder as the material of the pad is caused to compressively ow by a force downwardly applied to the cap. It will be seen that such a downwardly applied force would bring about downward movement of the stem 3e and consequently movement of the valve element 28 away from the seat 27. Inthe now preferred embodiment of the present invention,this force is applied through an operating lever arrn 54, the one end of which is pivotally mounted to the one arm of the bracket'45 by means of a suitable hinge pin 55. The

t lever arm 54 is integrally formed with a thrust pad 56 which engages the upper end of the cap 52 when the f lever is moved in a clockwise direction, as viewed in Figure 1. With the lever 54 pivotally moved in this Vdirection, the downward force exerted against the cap by the pad 56 forces the cap downwardly, as the material of AVthe'pad 53 is compressively thinned to bring the lower edge of the cap into engagement with the upwardly facing shoulder l of the stem. As the cap moves into engagement with the shoulder, the thrust is induced into the stem `to produce downward movement of the stem and consequently opening movement of the valve. Once the kvalve element 28 is moved against the action of the spring t 37 away from its seat 27, the butane will ow through the entrance port.12.into thelchamber. 15zand. thence into Y the upper chamber 16 to exit through the dispensing ti ting '18 into thellerV member-"220the'users 'storage tank 23.

To terminate the dispensing operation it is only necessary to relieve the pressure from the operating arm whereupon the spring 37 returns the valve element 28 to its closed position engaging the valve seat 27. As the valve element 28 is moved-byhefspring 37 into engagement with the seat 27, the -stern -34 is returned to its normal position with the cap 52 extending upwardly from the guide bushing l This closes the ow path from the supply tanl; to the users tank although the valve 24 may still be held open by the pressure of the gas 4trapped between the users tank and the valve element 28.

This gas in the valve mechanism of the present invention is utilized to operate a bleed device for slowly dissipating this gas into the atmosphere. To this end the stem 34 is formed with a bore 57 longitudinally extending inwardly of the projecting end face, whichtbore communicates with a laterally extending passage 58.. 'The' passage 58 and bore 57 thus dow-connect the'chamber 16 and the end of the stem 37 to which the cap-52 is mounted. The pressure of the gas trapped within the "housing lifts the cap-52 against the' cap 56 to move the lever arm in a clockwise direction to a limit position defined by a stop element 59 carried by the lever arm 54 and engageable with a' coacting stop element 61 formed on the bracket 4S. In-this positionof the leverarm 54, the cap has not separated from the reducedend portion ofthe stern 34, but is nevertheless elevated to a' position in which a radially extending passagewayZ is spaced above the end face of the stem 34. As should be seen, the gas 'under pressure may now slowly bleed from the chamber 16 through the passage 5S, bore 57,' and passage'62 to the atmosphere.

The ow path of the bleed is small enough to allow the gas to dissipate at a rate such as not to greatly reduce the temperature or" the dispensing valve body. Once the gas under'pressure has bled from the body member 10,

the sleeve 19 may now be threaded from the tting 21 of the filler member 22. As there is no pressure internally Vof the tting 18 to create a reacting force in the threads of the sleeve 19, the latter is quickly and easily removed from the liller member 22. Once the pressure of' the trapped gas has been reduced to a value less than the thrust of the spring 26, the valve 24 closes against the seat 25 to again seal the tank 23. When the sleeve 19 is detached from the fitting 21, there is substantially no gas under pressure in the dispensing mechanism'and con- "sequently all'danger of injury to the operators hand is eliminated.

The dispensing valve requires no `adjustmentwhen it is to be again used to ll a users tank, foronce the sleeve 19 is connected to the iller member, operation of the lever 54 in the counterclockwise direction moves the cap downwardly over the reduced end portion of the stem to transmit the downward thrust to thestem 34 and consequently the valve element 28. As the pad 53 will be comprcssively engaged between the transverse wall of thecap 52 and the end face of the'stem 34, the bore 57 is completely sealed against escape of the gas into the atmosphere. The thrust' exerted by the pad 56 against the cap 52 thus not only operates the' valve element 28, but also brings about the sealing of the bleed bore 57. Also, it should be noted that the thrust taken by the cap is transmitted directly into the stem by reason of the engagement of the end face of the cap 52 vwith .the upwardly facing shoulder S1 toeliminate excessive for locking the operating lever 54 in the valve opened position. Although anyr means desired can be used to etect this locking operation, in the illustrated embodi ment a bail has the legs thereof pivotally mounted to the bracket 45. The bight or bow portion 66 of the bail forms a detent element to be engaged in a notch 67 formed in the upper face of the operating lever 54. Thus, with the bight portion 66 engaged in the notch 67 the operator may release the lever 54 and the spring 37 acts to bind the bight tightly in the notch 67. At the termination of some filling operations it is found that the valve of the filler member of the users tank is jammed or canted in the open position. This creates a dangerous condition with prior dispensing mechanism for this fact cannot be detected until the latter is disconnected from the iiller member of the tank. With the valve mechanism of the present invention, an operator is apprised of a frozen open valve by the excessive quantity of gas escaping or bleeding from the mechanism after the operating lever is released. When this condition exists the bight of the bail 65 may be moved into a second notch 68 which acts to hold the lever 54 in a position in which the valve element 28 is seated and the cap 52, although separated from the shoulder 51, has not moved a distance sufficient to open the passage 62. There is thus no supply pressure acting against the frozen valve nor is the gas venting to the atmosphere. This allows the operator to attempt to free the valve of the tank as by tapping the filler member with a hammer or the like.

Although the now preferred embodiment of the present invention has been shown and described herein, it is to be understood that the invention is not to be limited thereto, for it is susceptible to changes in form and detail Within the scope of the appended claims.

I claim:

1. A dispensing valve mechanism to be mounted to a flexible conduit leading from a source of liquid petroleum gas, comprising: a body member having internal wall means defining iirst and second chambers therein communicating with an entrance and exit port, respectively; a valve seat defining an opening dow-connecting said chambers; valve means; an operating stem having an end fixed to said valve means, said stem having a passageway longitudinally extending inwardly from the free end thereof to a point adjacent said valve means; guide means carried by said body member, including a base bore for supporting and guiding said stem for longitudinal movement to mount said valve means within said iirst chamber for movement relative to said seat; means for sealing said bore to prevent passage of gas therethrough; spring means engaging said valve member and normally holding the latter engaged with said seat to close communication between said chambers; said stem projecting transversely of said second chamber with the free end thereof disposed exteriorly of said body member, the free end of said stem being reduced to form an annular shoulder thereon; an apertured cap slidably sleeving the reduced end portion of said stem and being normally retracted from said shoulder; a gasket of resilient material carried within said cap; an operating lever pivotally mounted to said body member for manual movement into engagement with said cap, said lever being adapted to be manually rocked to apply a thrust to said cap to engage the latter against said annular shoulder and simultaneously to compressively engage said gasket against the end face of said stem to close said passageway; the thrust transmitted into said stem by the cap engaged with said shoulder urging said valve member away from said seat to flow-connect said chambers, whereby gas iiows from said entrance port to said exit port; release by an operator of said lever permitting said spring means to move said valve member against said seat to again close communication between said chambers; the gas filling said second chamber and the passageway of said stem pressurally urging said cap longitudinally of said reduced end portion to retract from said shoulder and simultaneously to move said gasket out of engagement with the end face of said stem and thus communicate the apertures of said cap with said passageway thereby any gas filling said second chamber `at a pressure above atmospheric pressure vents to the atmosphere to equalize the pressure in said second lchamber with the atmosphere.

2. A dispensing valve mechanism to be mounted to a ilexible conduit leading from a source of liquid petroleum gas, comprising: a body member having internal wall means deining iirst and second chambers therein communicating with an entrance and exit port, respectively; an annular Valve seat deiining an opening flowconnecting said chambers; a disc valve; an operating stem having an end coaxially iixed to said disc valve, said stem having a passageway extending from the free end thereof to a point adjacent the end fixed to said valve; a guide bushing carried by said body member for slidably supporting said stem for longitudinal movement along an axis coincident with the axes of said stem and valve thereby to mount said valve within said first chamber for movement relative to said seat; spring means mounted within said first chamber for normally holding said valve engaged with said seat to close communication between said chambers; said stem projecting transversely of `said second chamber with the free end thereof disposed exteriorly of said body member, the free end of said stem being reduced to form an annular shoulder thereon; an apertured cap slidably sleeving the reduced end portion of said stem and being normally retracted from said shoulder; a gasket of resilient material carried within said cap; an operating lever pivotally mounted tosaid body member for movement into engagement with said cap, said lever being adapted to be manually rocked to apply a thrust to said cap to urge the latter against said annular shoulder and to compressively engage said gasket against the end face of said stem to close said passageway; the thrust transmitted to said stem urging said valve member away from said seat to flow-connect said chambers whereby gas iiows from said entrance port to said exit port; release by an operator of said lever permitting said spring means to move said valve member against said seat to again close communication between said chambers; the gas filling said chamber and the passageway of said stem pressurally urging said cap longitudinally of said reduced end portion to communicate the apertures of said cap with said passageway whereby any gas iilling said second chamber at a pressure above atmospheric pressure vents to the atmosphere to equalize the pressure in said second chamber with the atmosphere; kand means carried by said body member coacting with means carried by said lever for limiting movement of said cap as the latter is pressurally urged longitudinally of said stem thereby to prevent separation of said cap from said stem.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 294,674 `Richter Mar. 4, 1884 1,163,471 Schramm Dec. 7, 1915 2,014,642 Andrews Sept. 17, 1935 2,530,091 Smith Nov. 14, 1950 2,659,385 Hayden Nov. 17, 1953 2,693,201 Page Nov. 2, 1954 FOREIGN PATENTS 254,051 Switzerland of 1948 456,893 Italy of 1950 

